Renowned Lollipop brand Chupa Chups opens first store in Dubai

Renowned Lollipop and sugar confectionery brand Chupa Chups opened its first ever experiential store on 12th January in the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. The interactive Chupa Chups Room will house an array of brand favourites since its inception and new products alike, inducing nostalgia amongst millennials all while creating curiosity between Gen Z and teeny boppers, through new themes and limited-edition products introduced every two weeks within the store. The store is compact yet equipped with the most advanced technology to offer customers unlimited phenomenal experiences for all occasions.

Luca Parodi, President Business Unit SAMEA & LATAM, Perfetti Van Melle, World’s largest manufacturers and distributors of Sugar confectionery, alongside the leadership team inaugurated and welcomed visitors to the store. “The idea is to provide shoppers with a technology-driven fun and interactive room where you are not just buying the candies but also experiencing the brand. I think the retail landscape of sugar confectionary has been relatively traditional for a long time. So Chupa Chups wants to break the roots of how shoppers go and buy candies. Parents can also have a chance to post pictures of their children on the e-commerce website and have them printed on the cover of the lollipops for birthday parties. This is an experiment for us and we see how it goes”, said Luca.

Highlights from the store include backpacks filled with lollipops, stuffed in mini pouches for the little ones, tins of 150 lollipops ideal for group gatherings and birthdays, seasonal hampers for birthday party’s or festive gifting during Easter and Eid. The store will also have a range of exclusive Chupa Chups merchandise for parents to dress kids in their favourite brand from childhood. The opening is special because this is the first time Chupa Chups is opening a retail store in the world and they chose Dubai as their first location. “When the idea of opening a retail store for the brand cropped up, our first choice was Dubai. The city is diverse and easily accessible from the rest of the world but moreover, the UAE has brilliantly managed the pandemic with little impact on retail, making it a stable choice. Aside from this, there has been a significant tourist footfall within the country over the last few months due to the Expo and Mall of the Emirates happens to be an obvious choice as it is a tourist hotspot.”, stated Luca.

The Global sugar confectionery market was valued at $44,481 million in 2015 and is expected to reach $55,594 million by 2022, registering a CAGR of 3.2% during 2016-2022. According to Perfetti Van Melle with the decline of shopping on-the-go over the last year, there is a need for fmcg suppliers to differentiate, innovate and excite consumers to stimulate growth in the £1.22bn sugar confectionery category. “The pandemic has definitely impacted the market dynamics. We saw certain segments of the candies go away because mostly families stayed indoors. Candies related to breath refreshments declined massively. But overall, the sugar confectionery market is in growth at a steady pace on account of the high demand from middle-class consumers. Introduction of new products with unique flavours & healthy ingredients, increase in gifting trend, and growth in retail market are expected to drive the demand in the near future, added Luca.

Chupa Chups has been popular amongst kids and teens since 1958 with a vibrant,  fun appeal and unusual flavours. The brand has become world famous for its round lollipops in many flavours and the flower shaped logo designed by the famous artist Salvador Dalí in the late sixties. Luca explains, “We have incorporated the latest technology to the store to be relevant to the teenagers who will come to the store to experience the brand in their own way. So they can take a selfie, post in Instagram, share it with friends and that’s the way Chupa Chups will provide fun to the Gen-Z audience”.  Today the Chupa Chups Lollipops are available in more than 108 countries and the brand now sells more than 100 flavours worldwide. Looking ahead, the mission is to go beyond one store itself. “So this is an experiment which we will expand further with an online-offline experience to the customers. We will start to expand from the UAE and there-on go far beyond, concluded Luca. 

Click below for Luca’s short video interview.